Piano-action bracket



Jan 6,1931. F. 'T. MON 1,187,665

PIANO ACTION BRACKET Filed July 6, 1929 Patented Jan. 6, 1931 mums 'rnnononn c anson, or vvmmrnnaa,v uassacnuema's P ano-Actionuckner Application filed m 6, 192a Serial no. 373,412.

My invention relates to improvements in piano action brackets, havingparticular reference to such as are employed in grand pianos for supporting the action rails upon the key bed.

In the standard grand piano constructions of the prior art, manipulation of the soft pedal to shift the action from three to two strings necessitates the moving of the keys 1 and key frame carrying rigid action brackets which support the rails and action.

This construction and mode of operation is ex ensive, difiicult to maintain in order,

entai s an unnecessary load for the soft pedal, giving same a tendency toward sluggish action.

It is therefore the primaryobject of my invention to provide a novel bracket-means to eliminate the necessity for shifting the the soft pedal.

Another object is to furnish a sectional bracket of the class referred to which can be readily installed and used in place of the r ordinary bracket without a modification of" the usual construction of the action or assoelated parts. 1 i

The invention also resldes in certain novel features of construction, combination and a modes of operation, all of which will be readily understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art upon reference to the ac companying drawing in connection with the 3 detailed description to follow.

It is understood that the'drawing illus! showin key frame in the shifting of the action by arrangement of the various parts and 'in' soft pedal has been actuated to shift the action to dispose the hammers for presentation 7 to two strings instead of threeas normally.

Throughout the drawing the same reference characters have been used to designate the same parts in all views. Numeral 5 denotes-the key frame, 6 the hammer rail, 7 the the position of the parts after the wippen'or sup ort rail and 8 the regulating 'rai1,al1 of w ich are carried by the upper bracket portion 9 which is formed with seats 6, 7?, 8?, for the respective rails referred to; The parts described are all conventional and wellknown by those skilled in the art. l

My invention resides particularly, as'previously stated, in avoiding the necessityfor a lateral shift of the key frame 5'" in order,

through the soft pedal, to shift the action so that the hammers will strikebut two wires insteadof three, as ordinarily.

The end, aforementioned, is attained by 'making the actionbracket in two parts connected for relative swinging movement.

'As will be noted, the upper bracket portion 9 has a depending a ertured lug 9* disposed opposite the depen ing 'portion 9 so as to receive the upstanding portion 10* of the bracket portion-10 therebetween. Screws 11 extending through portions '9, 9 and into opposite arms of portion 10 serve to pivotally connect the two bracket parts 9, 10.

Thelower end of the bracket part 10 is received between the upstanding bearing portions 12 of cleat members 12 which are secured to thekey frame by means of screws or other elements 14, as shown. The upstanding portions 12 of cleats 12 are transversely bored to provide bearings for the smooth shoulders of screws 13, the ends of Which are adaptedto be received in threaded bores in the opposed base extensions 10 of bracket 10.

From the foregoing it will be manifest that the bracket part 9, by reason of pivots 11, 13, may partake of the lateral swinging movement indicated in Figure 3, thus to carry the piano action (not *shown) laterally so that the hammers will be disposed to but two strings instead of three.

The device is very simple and can be applied in lieu of the ordinary bracket with no trouble whatever. The device has the advantage of increased ease in operation, saving of wear and reduces the number of movinglparts.

aving thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentisi i 1. The combination of an action supporting bracket for pianos, a key frame upon which said bracket is mounted, and means in art associated with said frame and in part lncluded in said bracket for permitting lateral shifting of the bracket in an upright plane under the action of the soft pedal of the piano. r

2. In a piano construction, an action bracket comprising sections pivotally connected, the axis ofv said pivot being in parallelism with the key frame,and a pivotal connection between one section of said bracket and said key frame. r

3. An action supporting bracket for pianos comprising a pair of sections adapted to be positioned in substantially upstanding continuance ofone another, means for pivoting said sections together intermediate their ends, one of said sections being adapted to support the action and having rail seating portions, and the other section having pivot means for attachment to the key frame with the axis of such pivot means being in substantial parallelism with said frame whereby the action carrying section of said bracketmay move laterally in a substantial upstanding position under the control of the soft pedal of the piano.

4:. An action supporting bracket for pianos comprising a base section having means for pivotal connection to the key frame, an action carrying section pivoted upon said base sec tion and said pivot points being spaced in the direction of the width of said sections.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

FRANS THEODORE CARLSON. 

